Frogs Only Please.....

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Yesterday we had a warm day and I went to the pond to see if my fishes are out, nope, but I had a surprised, a frog was just chilling on the bottom of my pond! Yeye! That means he/she is using my pond as his/her house and I'm thrilled! Hoping I can clean up my small water garden/nature pond before the mating season :)

Just finished reading the info addy posted, and do more research, green frogs hibernate underwater too. It's not so green though, very pale brownish color ;)
 
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morewater

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I have no idea where my frogs came from, but there's a bunch of them (and they're good looking smooth green and black jobs), noisy as hell come Spring (but it seems that they all stop calling at precisely midnight). I didn't stock tadpoles, perhaps the frog Gods smiled upon me and were benevolent?
 
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I netted out a frog last time it was all warm here, and cleaning out the bottom of my goldfish pond. Tossed him back in. Yesterday I noticed a frog laying upside down on the bottom of that same pond. Pretty sure this one is dead, but will check later when I head out there to net again. I have tons of bullfrogs in my farm pond, so never have a shortage in my ponds come spring. Leopard frogs also visit it seems later in the summer. I wish the tiny peepers and Northern Cricket frogs would come back. They were here in abundance first year, but didn't see hardly any the 2nd and 3rd years. Maybe they are hiding in the foliage around the ponds. Spring peepers have been heard by friends that live about 20 miles south of me, so hoping soon I will hear them as well.
 

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Nothing grosser than finding an expired, whited out frog in the pond come the melt. Quick garden burial.........
 
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This frog showed up today. Thinking it's the same frog from earlier but now she's in the nature pond. She doesn't look so good, not moving much, don't know if that's normal but she was kinda floating in the water when my son put she in the big pond for a bit. I hope she's not moving coz she's just coming out of the hibernation.
image.jpg
 
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I was cleaning algae out of skimmers this evening, opened up one skimmer and there was a bullfrog in there about the size of one in your son's hands, Nepen. It went underwater, but when I pulled the basket, it had no where to hide, although it tried. LOL I coaxed it out back into the pond, where it immediately went to the bottom. Depending on your temps, it's probably just moving slow because of the cold. If it has a place to sit on the rocks in the sunshine, you might see it tomorrow there! Good luck. BTW, adorable little boy! :love:
 

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I can't believe we're already to that time of year where the reveal is coming. By "reveal", I mean whether any of my frogs survived or not. Ever since I found a dead one in January, I have a feeling the rest didn't survive either, but I still have a bit of hope. Now I just have to patiently wait and see..
 
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Oh, and tonight, while I was pulling some dead plants out of the bog area, a frog jumped to hide next to where I was, so I slowly peeked under the stuff, and it was a small leopard frog. So, if you look close enough, they are probably there, just not wanting to come out and sun themselves yet. By me, it's really windy, even though it was 70, and I've noticed even on a nice summer day, if it was very windy, no frogs came out to sun.
 

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Ice was 80% melted today so I figured I'd look to see if there were any dead frogs to scoop.. there was. :cry: I also learned that a frozen dead frog isn't nearly as bad as a decomposing one. :vomit:

So, realistically the remaining two frogs are likely dead but its overcast today so all I could really see is clouds reflecting, so I'll have to wait until its sunny to search for the others.

I knew the 3' depth area was small but I still thought they could survive. They had hornwort and two potted plants for cover, and ice never got near them. That pretty much tells me that they had no chance in my pond for some reason. If I can't make adjustments, I'll have to attempt to catch any future frogs in Fall and bring them to a nearby pond.
 
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I've had dead frogs every year, JB, so don't be too upset. Last year I saw several frogs on the edges of my pond, where it was only maybe 6" deep, with their nose stuck in between the rocks on the side. I thought they were hibernating there, and left them. Come to find out they were stuck ... and dead. Yuck! Also last year, my skippy filter froze (water line broke, had to shut it off), and there were several dead frogs in there when I cleaned out the filter media that spring. Another thing that could cause frog problems if if you net your bottom of the pond during the winter. It's tempting to do, but if they are snuggled into the leaf matter, etc., you may disturb them enough that they don't settle back in. Not sure if this is really an issue, just a thought I have. I think you do like most, net as much as possible before the really cold weather hits, and then not again until things start warming up. I've been netting again for the last 3 weeks or so, and have come up with frogs almost every day I have netted, just gently put them back in where there are pots or it's somewhat shallower. They can find their way to the bottom, if that's where they want to go. But, now that we have had some warmer days (mixed in with the cold grrr ...), I've seen more of them so spring IS on it's way!
 

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Yeah, I don't net in the winter. The less they're disturbed, the better. Actually, I was surprised to see there isn't as many leaves in the pond as I expected, though maple seeds will be a pain, and there's a ton of algae.

Since this was the first winter with the pond, I went into it knowing these frogs might not survive, but I was still hoping at least one or two would make it through. With none surviving, I know that its not "nature taking its course" and that there's something wrong with environment that didn't allow them to survive. I'm hoping some new frogs move in once the temps warm up, but I have to figure out what I'm going to do for next winter.
 
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It could be where they want to hibernate, you don't have that established well enough yet. If you have any waterways nearby, or ponds/lakes, I just bet you will get some wandering into your yard this year all on their own. Mine came first year, but my established farm pond is only maybe 150 yards away. LOL They didn't have far to go. Didn't have hardly any little types of frogs last year until later in the summer, then saw some that were always on the walkway or rocks, never near the pond. I had Northern Cricket frogs the first year, but not since. They were so colorful, each one with a different green marking. Tried to upload a few pics, but it's refusing to allow that at the moment, maybe later ...
 
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Thanks addy :) my son got his daddy's look but my coloring ;)

The frog is still in the nature pond today. It moved around a bit more so I guess yesterday was just the first day of hibernation. Too bad, we will probably get about a foot of snow on Tuesday :( snow go away don't come again until next year! I'm so done with winter. I can't start any gardening because of this!

Anya.
 

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I am seeing a ton of large tadpoles in the ponds, they are either bullfrog or green frogs, both over winter as tads. Have found a few frogs around, just one dead, been dead for a while.
 

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